[Xmca-l] Re: Love in the time of corona

Mon Apr 13 10:17:51 PDT 2020

Lois and others,

Inspiring to see all that you and ESI are doing there in the midst of this
whirlwind - and in the eye of the storm no less!

This comment of yours seemed to resonate with Liz' and Annalie's comments
about mental health:
"people are realizing how they feel is not inside them".

That seems to me to be a revolutionary thought.

Also, I'd ask this to you but don't want to distract you from your
important work, so perhaps others can talk about how activities can be
transformed in these times to adapt to this new era (I'd like to call it a
"moment" but it feels bigger than that).

What got me thinking of this were the Zoom sessions that Lois mentioned on
Creating Connection and Building Community. The fact is that there will be
new possibilities to do these things (e.g., the possibility of truly GLOBAL
communities and connections - perhaps to Andy's world-perezhivanie), but
the activities that enable these things will also need to be transformed
and different.

[I'm a bit of an idiot about these things so I'm just realizing that online
classes can't just be in-person activities that are taken online. They need
online activities that can build connection and community among students.
Still working on that.]

So I'm wondering if anyone has had any success or even just suggestions
regarding how to create online activities that can realize the
possibilities and potential for connection and community in online spaces?

[I'm thinking really practically/locally here in terms of what can be done
in my classes to build connection and community in online spaces, but the
answer will, of course, be relevant to forms of cross-national solidarity,
granting that there may be other challenges as well - e.g., language].

-greg

On Mon, Apr 13, 2020 at 10:53 AM Lois Holzman <
lholzman@eastsideinstitute.org> wrote:

> Hello All,
>
> Following the lead of others, I'll jump in. While NYC and state are in
> serious crisis and all its cultural and economic conflicts even more
> glaring, the vibrancy and energy has not disappeared. It's just different.
>
> As Vygotsky is purported to have said, "A revolution solves only those
> tasks raised by history..." History has thrown us a monster.
>
> Different too are the forces working to shape this extraordinary
> historical moment. Much of that shaping by those who are in positions of
> political and economic, etc. authority—and the pandemic itself—are creating
> fear and despair, both for now and the future. At the same time, the
> shaping being done by so many thousands of people and organizations that
> inspire and organize people to exercise their power and creativity for
> connectedness are generating hope and possibility.
> I feel that palpably all day long.
>
> We in the global development community are re-tooling and/or stepping up
> our virtual activities, many of which involve play, performance and
> ensemble building, not to take people's minds off what's happening, but to
> involve them in some "non-knowing growing" and participation in creating
> positive responses to what's happening that have the possibility to
> continue to be transformative of individuals and communities. A few
> examples—
>      establishing a Global Play Brigade working across borders of
> nation state, culture and economy (so far performance activists from about
> 40 countries involved)
>      offering Creating Connection and Building Community
> <https://myemail.constantcontact.com/Play-Sessions-via-Zoom-Opened-Up--Free-online-social-gatherings.html?soid=1101246158194&aid=qweSrQdaUGo>free
> play sessions via Zoom, each one originating in a different part of the
> world (about 150 people per session so far)
>      taking our Creating Our Mental Health conversation/workshop series
> national and international in a moment when people are realizing how they
> feel is not inside them, not merely socially produced and organized, but
> social in its potential transformativity
>       taking All Stars Project programs for poor youth and their
> communities in NYC, NJ, Dallas, Chicago and the Bay Area virtual
>
> If you're interested in any of this and more, let me know. And you can
> always check out the social media listed in my signature.
>
> Stay safe,
> Lois
>
> --
> *Access my latest article—**Why be Half-Human? How Play, Performance and
> Practical Philosophy Make Us Whole **(written with Cathy Salit)—and read
> the rest of this marvelous book, Social Construction in Action
> <https://www.taosinstitute.net/product/social-construction-in-action-contributions-from-the-taos-institutes-25th-anniversary-conference>,
> which you can download for free!*
>
>
> Lois Holzman
> Director, East Side Institute for Group & Short Term Psychotherapy
> Chair, Global Outreach, All Stars Project, UX
> Distinguished Visiting Fellow in Vygotskian Practice and Performance,
> Lloyd International Honors College at The University of North Carolina at
> Greensboro
> Address: East Side Institute, Attn:Lois Holzman
> 119 West 23 St, suite 902
> New York, NY 10011
> Telephone  +1.212.941.8906 x324
> Mobile 1-917-815-2664
>
> lholzman@eastsideinstitute.org
> Social Media
> Facebook  <https://www.facebook.com/lois.holzman.5>| LinkedIn
> <https://www.linkedin.com/in/lois-holzman-5bb0594/>| Twitter
> <https://twitter.com/LoisHolzman>
> Blogs
> Psychology Today
> <http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/conceptual-revolution>| Psychology
> of Becoming <http://loisholzman.org/> | Mad in America
> <http://www.madinamerica.com/author/lois/>
> Websites
> Lois Holzman <http://loisholzman.org/> | East Side Institute
> <http://eastsideinstitute.org/> | Performing the World
> <http://www.performingtheworld.org/>
> All Stars Project
> <http://allstars.org/>
>
>
>

-- 
Gregory A. Thompson, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department of Anthropology
880 Spencer W. Kimball Tower
Brigham Young University
Provo, UT 84602
WEBSITE: https://anthropology.byu.edu/greg-thompson
http://byu.academia.edu/GregoryThompson
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